What is the correct time to get into entrepreneurship?

[mr_engineer]

Here's my answer - it's when you are ready to take responsibility for your 'why'. 

The fundamental problem with being an employee, is that you are letting a boss decide your 'why'. As an employee, what you bring to the table, are skills. The boss decides what you do with your skills. So, your 'why' is totally outside your control. Now, if you're in a phase where you just need to pay the bills, you may be okay with letting the boss do what they want with your skills, where you're the cog in the machine. To the average person, this may not even seem problematic. I mean, what's wrong with being a cog in a machine, if it pays your bills, right?! 

If entrepreneurship is for you, the way this will manifest, is that you will feel 'lost' in the system. And, it won't be because you don't like what you're doing or you suck at what you're doing and you're struggling. It will be, because what you're doing will feel meaningless. So, even though you'll be good and you'll be comfortable, objectively, you will feel burnt-out. This is your being telling you that you are not living your full potential, that you can be more than this. This is the problem with being the cog in the machine. The 'slot' that you have to fit yourself into to be this cog, doesn't allow you to live your full potential. 

So, what you have to do in this situation, is you have to take responsibility for your 'why'. You have to really look at why you're doing what you're doing. Is it the material payoff? Is it a creative outlet? Is it something you're good at and therefore get appreciated for? No matter what the answers to these questions are, the fact remains that these are important questions if you're feeling lost in the system. This is the point where your quest to find your Life-Purpose begins. This is where you 'accept the call' to the 'Hero's journey 'of 'finding your Life-Purpose'. The process of finding your Life-Purpose itself is a massive exploration-process and will really test your character. Which is why the decision to commit to it is a scary one. And most people never commit to this process, so they stay lost and mediocre in life. 

What is the goal of this process? Or, how do you know that you've found your Life-Purpose? You know you've found it when you're living in alignment with your values. For that, you have to figure out your values and you have to figure out how you're going to align yourself to them. The reason you're feeling lost is that you're not living in alignment with your values. And, your 'why' will point you to your values. Especially in high-stakes situations. The challenge with this, though (which is what makes this process scary) is that you can't be sure of what your values are just from the way you act in one context. Sometimes, because of conditioning, you will get your values wrong. (Which is why you end up lost to begin with.) Therefore, you have to explore more options, you have to put yourself in different situations, see how you act in those situations and see why you act that way in those situations! Then, when you compare and contrast, you will be able to hone in on your values.

Very few people want to go through this process. It is borderline insane to do so, by average person logic. Which is why they end up being the crabs in the bucket. But, this is the cost of being a conscious person in a world of unconscious people. The question is - will you pay this cost? 

[Princess Arabia]

This sounds familiar to something I've either read or listened to - verbatim. Not saying it is but very familiar sounding. Sound advice, though.

[Dauntment]

"INTJ", Lol.

[Gabriel Joy]

Very well explained! Thank you for sharing this insight.

[The Renaissance Man]

You don't need to do that whole process to get into entrepreneurship. Plenty of people don't. I believe people just have a drive for more... and in most cases, for more money, and that's it.

I believe what you said is useful, and is a more conscious way to do it, but even blindly venturing into entrepreneurship, "unconscously" if you want, will teach you A LOT. One can get a lot of experience and wisdom just going in trying to make money at all costs.

When you're broke, not being poor will be a much stronger driver than purpose or consciousness. It's Maslow's hierarchy of needs. I believe there's no best time, and that even if you go into it unconsciously but actually make the experience, even if it's not aligned to your purpose, you'll be much better off than philosophising.

[mr_engineer]

1 hour ago, The Renaissance Man said:

You don't need to do that whole process to get into entrepreneurship. 

It's a bigger process for some than for others, for sure. 

1 hour ago, The Renaissance Man said:

I believe people just have a drive for more... and in most cases, for more money, and that's it.

I believe what you said is useful, and is a more conscious way to do it, but even blindly venturing into entrepreneurship, "unconscously" if you want, will teach you A LOT. One can get a lot of experience and wisdom just going in trying to make money at all costs.

Then that's your 'why'. 

Notice that I didn't say that the right 'why' for you has to be contribution. It really doesn't have to be. I said that you have to be willing to take responsibility for your 'why'. 

The reason for this, is that there are a lot of 9-5ers who dream about starting their own business and they have wild and crazy ideas. Things along the lines of 'I will start a poultry-farm, where I will raise chickens, they will lay eggs and produce more chickens. Then, I will sell the eggs, sell the chickens and make money like that'. They think that being an employee, following orders sucks and being an entrepreneur in which you have money AND freedom - that's the dream. They're not in reality about business and entrepreneurship and what really drives successful entrepreneurs. This is the thinking of an immature individual who is not taking responsibility for their 'why'. If you get into business prematurely, you will face obstacles, you will get stuck due to them because of your own internal conflicts and you will fuck up your life in the process. 

The point being, there is a healthy way and an unhealthy way to do this, and we need to know this distinction. 

1 hour ago, The Renaissance Man said:

When you're broke, not being poor will be a much stronger driver than purpose or consciousness. It's Maslow's hierarchy of needs. I believe there's no best time, and that even if you go into it unconsciously but actually make the experience, even if it's not aligned to your purpose, you'll be much better off than philosophising.

If you're actually broke/poor, you don't need to become a millionaire. You just need stability and security. Just get a job, pay the bills. Get insurance, have some bank-balance. Don't worry about being ambitious and being an entrepreneur, or being creative, at that point. As far as learning is concerned, you can learn a lot even as an employee, your boss can be a good mentor at times. 

'Not being poor' is the middle-class drive and it probably won't make you rich. This is why middle-class people hold onto their comfort-zone, cuz they don't want to be poor. In fact, they become really risk-averse on the one hand, and on the other hand, they have an immature understanding of business. They've heard of some people making it big by becoming rappers and actors and athletes, they've heard of some other people winning lotteries, so they think it's all luck. You have to get so sick of staying mediocre, staying in the middle-class, that you have to be willing to risk being poor for the shot at getting rich. Then, everyone around you will ask you 'Why are you doing this? Life is pretty comfortable as it is, why are you taking crazy risks?' That's when you need your 'why' to drive you, despite the crabs pulling you down. 

Edited December 1, 2023 by mr_engineer

[The Renaissance Man]

I probably didn't fully understand what you mean by "why" in my answer

Edited December 1, 2023 by The Renaissance Man

[mr_engineer]

2 hours ago, The Renaissance Man said:

I probably didn't fully understand what you mean by "why" in my answer

You said that the default 'why' is that you want more money. That's what I mentioned. 

[bebotalk]

There is no right time. 

There are always times where people demand given goods or services.